Norovirus
by JacNaylor2014
Summary: Sam and Tom fall ill after an outbreak of the norovirus in the ED. But there's only so much they can do for each other, when they are suffering themselves. Chapter 4 now up :)
1. Chapter 1

**This is set when Sam and Tom are engaged and living together in Sam's flat. Hope you enjoy it :) Also, to anyone else (like me) who had experienced the disgusting illness known as 'Norovirus' you'll know how bloody awful Sam and Tom are going to be feeling in this fic.**

**Wednesday, 4am**  
Sam awoke feeling hot and sticky along with a strong queasy nauseas feeling inside her. She turned over to face her fiancé in their double bed, and peered through the darkness to find that he too was awake despite it being the early hours of the morning.

"Tom, I don't feel well." Sam croaked as she brought both hands up to her stomach and applied pressure, hoping it would relieve some of her discomfort. The action didn't work at all so she peeled her hands off of her stomach and then folded the duvet off of her so that she could cool down. It had only made her feel even worse because she realised that her limbs were aching as though she had just completed a marathon along with a heavy weights competition. Maybe they had left the heating on when they went to bed, maybe that was why she was so hot. But then she remembered that she had turned the heating off herself the night before, when the pair had slipped into bed.

"Neither do I." Tom replied quietly as he pushed the duvet off of him too and it fell to the floor. He brought his hand up to his forehead and wiped away the bead of sweat that had accumulated.  
"How long have you been awake?" Sam whispered. Her voice was hoarse as her throat felt dry and rough.  
"Not long... ten minutes maybe?" Tom replied quietly, though he was unsure as he wasn't thinking straight. He was too busy focussing on the nausea that he had awoken too not long ago, along with abdominal cramps. Sam lay there, taking deep breaths to cool herself down in the dark room but it wasn't long until her stomach began to churn. Both of them knew each other well enough that neither was in he he mood to talk or to play 'doctor' and to come to a conclusion to what it was. They both knew it was the norovirus anyway; there had been an outbreak in the ED for the last week and they had been exposed to many sick patients.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Sam muttered quickly as she jumped out of her bed and ran into the ensuite bathroom, luckily, her side of the bed was closed to the bathroom than Tom's was. She only just made it to the toilet bowl before she collapsed onto her knees to get a better aim in the dark room and projectile vomited into the bowl. She was bringing up another lot when the light clicked on and she felt someone pull her thick, long hair back behind her shoulders and then a soothing hand on her back. Sam barely had time to catch her breath back before she vomited again.

Once she had finished, she kept herself balanced on her knees on the bathroom floor whilst she got her breathing back from a deep panting, to a slower, usual pace. Unfortunately, because she had treated patients with the norovirus, she knew that that would be the first of many vomiting episodes, despite the fact that she was already so fatigued and lethargic.

She was brought out of her thoughts when the toilet was flushed and she felt two hands heave her up by her moist armpits. She was only in shorts and a sleeveless top but she was burning up and sweating even more than she would've done after a long morning run in the middle of a heat wave.

Tom had pulled her up, despite him having achy arms and little energy, but considering that he had not yet vomited, he gathered that she must've felt worse than him. He guided her back to bed and laid her down. He took away one of she two pillows so she was laying flatter to make her comfortable.  
"I'll be back in a minute." He whispered before he left her, and used all his strength to put one sweaty foot in front of the other until he reached the kitchen. He grabbed two bottles of water and then opened the medicine cabinet to find that it was almost empty. There wasn't any medication for diarrhoea as far as he could see, so he grabbed the last box of paracetamol to bring down their fevers, along with the reusable thermometer, the washing up bowl from the sink, and a bucket from a cupboard before he returned to the bed where Sam was groaning quietly in discomfort as she hugged her aching stomach.

He placed a bucket besides Sam and tucked her hair behind her ear before he placed the thermometer in it, at which she winced.  
"Sorry, sorry." Tom whispered as he put his hand on hers. After a few seconds it beeped and Tom took it out. "38.7°" Tom announced quietly. They both knew she had a fever, he just wanted to get an idea of how how she was. He knew he had the same as he so, still whilst squatting besides her bed, he pressed the thermometer in his ear until it beeped. "39.5°" Tom croaked. "Do I get a prize for being hotter?" He joked half heartedly. "Sorry, not in the joking mood." Tom muttered as Sam merely groaned and hugged her stomach even tighter. "Right, there isn't a chance you could be pregnant is there? You're not late are you?" Tom queried. He was almost certain of the answer -they were always careful-, he just wanted to check. If there was a chance, he'd rush her to hospital and hook her up on fluids.

"No." Sam whispered.  
"Okay well here's some paracetamol for the fever. But there's not a lot else in the cupboard that you can take." Tom stated. He helped Sam sit up and just as he handed Sam the box of painkillers, he felt things moving in his stomach.  
"You okay?" Sam queried softly, his face showed confusion, but before he could reply, he stumbled to his feet, fell into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. She sighed before she swallowed two tablets followed by a gulp of water to sooth her dry throat. Had Tom been vomiting, she would've comforted him, but she could hear that he was otherwise engaged so she knew he wouldn't want her in there whilst he had no control over his bowels. Sam didn't have the energy to get up so she kept herself up right on the bed whilst she waited for him to come out. After a little while, she heard the toilet flush and then the taps run. "Tom, you okay?" Sam shouted which required effort, it also brought the fact that she had a headache developing to her attention.

He opened the bathroom door and slowly made his way back to his side of the bed. He collected the washing up bowl on his way, leaving Sam the bucket, and then laid down in bed and out the bowl besides him.  
"Fine." He mumbled as wiped his forehead again and then threw both of his pillows onto the floor in anger as he couldn't get comfortable.  
"We need toilet roll, and paracetamol, and dioralyte, and some tablets to stop diarrhoea." Sam stated quietly. "I'll-"  
"Well I'm not going Sam!" Tom snapped. "I'm as ill as you are so don't think that you can send me up the shops because you think you're worse off than me! Or because I'm the 'bloke' and I'm meant to look after you while you're sick because I'm sick too!" Tom shouted at Sam.  
"I... I was going to say I'll call fletch to get them for us." Sam stated as she moved as far as possible to her side of the bed because she was scared of him. Tom immediately regretted shouting at her, he just felt so ill and he thought that she was telling him to go up the shops for her when he clearly wasn't capable of doing so.  
"Sam I-" Tom began but Sam slid off of the bed which caused her to groan.  
"I'll go and ring him." Sam said quietly as she avoided eye contact with Tom before she walked out of the room.

** Thanks for reading, please review and let me know what you think, I'm a bit unsure of this fic x **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the reviews, I didn't think that this kind of fic would be this popular! Trust me, there's a lot more drama coming up in the next chapter :)**

"_Sam_?" Fletch queried sleepily down the phone. There must've been something wrong with her if she was ringing at 4:30am. Sam was standing in her living room with a small lamp on. She didn't want to sit down because she wanted to be able to make a quick escape to the toilet if necessary but the only toilet in her flat was the ensuite in their bedroom, and she didn't want to go in there yet. Not with Tom there.  
"Fletch, I'm sorry, I know it's early," Sam began.  
"_Woah, you don't sound too good. Whats wrong_?" Fletch queried. He could sense the exhaustion and strain that it took for Sam to speak.  
"I'm- We're ill, me and Tom are ill and... I was wondering if you wouldn't mind getting us some things from tescos. I know it's early but we're desperate." Sam pleaded. She then coughed a little as her throat tickled before she put the phone back to her ear.  
"_Yeah, of course I will, what do you want me to get for you_?"  
"Can I text you the list?" Sam asked before she coughed again to show her difficulty in speaking. Her mouth was so dry, but she feared that anything she would drink would come back up soon.  
"_Yeah sure, I'll get ready now and I'll leave in a few minutes okay_?"  
"Yep, thanks." Sam smiled gratefully.  
"_Don't you worry about it, you just get some rest and text me what you want. I'll see you soon._" Fletch said kindly.  
"Bye." Sam whispered before she hung up. She opened her messages and created a new one to Fletch.

_Paracetamol  
Dioralyte  
Diarrhoea relief capsules  
Toilet roll  
Ice cubes  
Orange Lucozade  
Thanks x_

She took a deep breath and stood in the dimly lit living room along wondering whether Tom would've calmed down yet enough for her to return to the bedroom. But after a few minutes, she didn't have a choice because she felt her stomach summersault and she quickly ran -not at her usual speed with her aching limbs- through the apartment, into the bedroom and into the ensuite bathroom where she began projectile vomiting again.

She was retching when she felt comforting hands on her back, again.  
"I'm sorry I shouted at you. I overreacted and I'm just... Grumpy I suppose." Tom concluded. He didn't know what else he could say to the woman who was on her knees with her head over the toilet bowl. Sam felt slightly better once she had thrown up, but not a great deal better. She took a deep breath to calm her down and rested for a few moments before she was able to reply.

"Don't worry about it... I feel a bit snappy too." Sam stated as Tom helped her up again. He reached past her and flushed the toilet before he guided her back to the bed and they both laid flat out on the mattress as they tried to cool their fever down as much as possible. "There's one thing that's worrying me." Sam stated to break the silence.  
"What?" Tom queried.  
"Well, I don't want to jinx it, but at one point or another both of us are going to need the toilet and it's gonna be messy." Sam explained and Tom laughed a little.  
"Well let's just say now, that whatever happens in the next day or two, will never be spoke about ever again. Agreed?"  
"Agreed." Sam stated. "Actually, this bloody norovirus might be a bit of a blessing." Sam joked half heartedly.

"What could possibly make the norovirus a blessing?" Tom laughed.  
"Well today, I was meant to go and talk to Zoe about doing unpaid overtime to catch up with paper work, and you were meant to help Lily with her latest assessment so I'd say that is the small bonus of this situation." Sam explained. "Hopefully, Zoe'll get Ash to do the overtime instead." She smirked.  
"Samantha Nicholls, you evil girl." Tom joked.

* * *

**4:50am**  
Tom had just had another bout of diarrhoea and he had just flopped back into bed when they heard the front door open- Fletch must've used the spare key on top of the doorframe. Tom was lying there in nothing but a pair of tight boxers whilst Sam was in very short shorts, and a tight strappy shirt which she had pulled up to her bra to cool down. Fletch entered the bedroom with two carrier bags.  
"Wow, you two look awful." Fletch stated. "Sorry, thought you wouldn't wanna get up to open the door." He added.  
"No, it's fine." Sam said as she pulled her shirt down to cover her flat stomach. She grabbed a pillow and dropped it on top of Tom's tight boxers because he was too busy groaning from the loose bowel movement.  
"Right, when you put ice, I assumed that you had a fever so I've got you these as well." Fletch said as he took out a few packs of gel pads which would cool a small area of their body. "I've got your bog rolls for you but I'm not going into the toxic zone." Fletch joked as he put the large pack of toilet rolls just outside their bathroom door. "Right, I'll save the diarrhoea jokes for when you're feeling better but there's the tablets, they should hopefully stop the diarrhoea in a few hours, these things are for rehydration blah blah blah." He said as he put the two boxes of tablets, two boxes of dioralyte and a 4 pack of lucozade on Sam's bedside table.

"And I've got you a fresh loaf of bread so you can try and have some dry toast later." He stated. "I'll go and put it in the kitchen." He added before leaving the room. Sam slowly sat up and took the box of diarrhoea relief tablets. Afte reading the dosage, she swallowed two tablets with a sip of water, before she nudge Tom.

"Tom sit up, you need to take these. And you need to put this in your water bottle." Sam ordered as she held the box of tablets and a sachet of dioralyte. Tom groaned before he heaved himself up and leant against the headboard. He was taking the tablets when Fletch returned.  
"Right, I'll leave you to it but, just keep your fluids up, get some rest and I hope you feel better soon." Fletch said solemnly.  
"Thanks Fletch." Sam forced a smile.  
"No worries, and let me know if you want anything else." He smiled before he left the room. Sam and Tom remained silent until they heard the front door close and Fletch used the spare key to lock it again.

* * *

**7:30am**  
Sam and Tom had managed to get short naps whilst they felt a little better and the gel packs were helping with their fever a bit. They both had one on their forehead, Sam had one above her bust and one on her stomach -she had taken her top off and was just lying there in her bra and shorts, and Tom had two on his chest -he was only in his tight boxers.

They had both agreed that they didn't need to get up when the other was vomiting because they were both achy and they didn't want to get up when it wasn't necessary to do so. But once again, Sam's stomach was heaving again. She pulled the gel pack off of her forehead before it gave her a headache and slowly padded into the bathroom. She stood there for a few minutes, on ever knees by the toilet waiting for the inevitable to happen, when finally she began projectile vomiting into the toilet. She no longer had much left in her so it was mere bile that was coming up; something that left and awful taste in her mouth.

She had only just begun vomiting when Tom urgently needed to use the one and only bathroom in the flat.  
"Sam, can you hurry up please?" Tom asked awkwardly as he stood outside the bathroom door which had been left ajar slightly.  
"I can't I'm gonna-" Sam's words were interrupted by another bout of vomit.  
"Yeah but Sam I need the toilet, like now and there's a bucket here. Please Sam I'm begging you." Tom pleaded as he hugged his stomach hoping he would soon get some relief; the diarrhoea tablets had not yet kicked in and he had a feeling that they weren't going to do much considering he had taken them over an hour ago. Sam flushed the toilet, and stumbled out of the bathroom, Tom burst into the toilet after his fiancé left it and slammed the door behind him.

Sam collapsed onto her knees in front of the bucket by her bedside before she vomited once again. She heard the sound effects coming from the bathroom which only made her feel worse. She had only had diarrhoea once compared to Tom, but he had only vomited once, compared to Sam who had vomited multiple times.

Sam was still on the floor recovering from the horrible, retching feeling that had tensed her up so much, when she heard the toilet flush.  
"Sam, can you get me a pair of pants please?" Tom asked awkwardly.  
"Yeah... J-just gimme a minute." Sam replied. It took a few attempts of her aching limbs before she pulled herself up and headed over to the draws. She pulled out a pair of Tom's boxers before she opened the bathroom door about two inches, and held the clean pair through the small gap.

"Thanks." Tom muttered once he'd taken them.  
"Give the other pair here, I'll go and put them in the wash now." Sam ordered.  
"Trust me you really don't want to touch them." Tom grimaced as he pulled his clean boxers on.  
"Tom just give them, I'm in the same position as you here." Sam stated. Reluctantly, Tom put the pants in Sam's hand through the gap in the door. He had rolled them up in a ball so Sam couldn't feel anything that she didn't want to. She slowly made her way to the kitchen and then put them in the washing machine by themselves along with a bit of extra washing detergent to ensure they would be clean. Once she had made it back to the bedroom, she found Tom placing the now clean bucket that she had just vomited into, besides her bed.  
"Thanks." Sam forced a smile before the couple once ago collapsed on the bed.

**Thanks for reading, please review x**

**One of the pair will end up hospitalised in the next chapter, if I get enough reviews I'll update later today as well :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Midday**  
Sam was lying in bed, in peace whilst Tom was in the bathroom. She was taking deep breaths to combat the nausea, the stomach cramps, and the banging headache. She couldn't keep any water down and although when she was working in the last few days, she hated the patients who came in because they thought they were 'dying', she now understood why. Everything that she tried wasn't working and despite the fact she felt sorry for Tom, she was sure that she was worse than him; in total, she had vomited or excreted a lot more than him and she felt so, so weak. She couldn't lift her arm to get a sip of water for her bone dry mouth without groaning.

Just when Sam was nearly falling asleep again, the bathroom door unlocked and Tom -who was still in only a pair of boxers- plodded out. He flopped onto his side of the bed, jolting the mattress, and let out a deep sigh before he turned onto his side and pressed his hands onto his bare abdomen.  
"Tom." Sam warned. She felt nauseous enough as it was, without being bounced by the mattress because of him. As well as his sigh which had only aggravated her throbbing head.  
"What?" Sam moaned.  
"I'm trying to sleep." She whispered.  
"Oh well I'm sorry that I'm shitting through the eye of a needle." Tom grunted.  
"Don't be like that." Sam mumbled as she once again tried to close her eyes.  
"Like what? Don't be sick? Because funnily enough Sam, I can't help it." Tom stated loudly.  
"Stop being so snappy. Please." Sam pleaded.  
"Oh, I'm sorry that I'm not in the best of moods whilst I am bedridden with a bloody bug." Tom argued loudly which hurt Sam's head.  
"Stop it." She whispered. "You're not helping either of us." She added.  
"Oh I'm fed up with you. You always think you know best for both of us when in reality, you're just doing the best for you Sam." Tom snapped. "I'm fed up with you." He repeated before he left the room.

If Sam had the energy she would run after him. If she had even a tiny bit of energy, she would sob into her pillow, but she had no energy whatsoever. She huffed as she stared at the ceiling and within a few minutes of Tom leaving, she felt her bowels moving once again. Just as she was getting up to go to the toilet, Tom ran back into the bedroom, into the ensuite and slammed the door shut. Sam was desperate, but he was in a mood with her. Would he put his anger aside for the sake of her pride?

She got up and knocked lightly but repeatedly on the bathroom door.  
"Tom... Tom please open up." Sam pleaded. She could hear him being sick, and earlier, when she was sick but Tom was worried about the other end, she had exited to give him the use of the toilet, but apparently, he wasn't willing to do the same. Sam pulled all of her muscles up and tensed as much as she could to prevent anything from escaping but he wasn't opening. "Tom please. Stop being stubborn and open up." Sam ordered as she punched the door several times with her remaining energy.

Tom heard her pleading tone, but he was too busy projectile vomiting. Suddenly, everything went silent- there was no longer the banging of the door. But instead, it was replaced by groaning sounds of Sam just outside the door.

* * *

A few minutes had passed and Tom was still on his knees in front of the toilet. He didn't feel the urge to be sick, though he still felt awful, so he just wanted to get back into bed, but he was worried about what he would find when he opened the door. It took him a while before he finally psyched himself up enough and he opened the door, only to find that there was no sign of Sam in the bedroom.

He checked the living room, before he slowly walked into the kitchen where he found Sam with nothing but a black bath towel wrapped around her naked frame and she was throwing her pyjamas in the bucket that Tom had provided, before she threw the bucket in the general bin. Then he realised: she had actually been so desperate that she had had an accident and she must've used the bucket as a last resort.  
"Sam, I'm so-" Tom began before being interrupted.  
"I don't wanna hear it Tom. I'm going for a shower and when I get out I don't want to find you in the bedroom okay? You can sleep on the sofa." Sam ordered.  
"And what if I need the toilet while you're in the shower?" Tom queried, though he immediately regretted it because he knew what her reply would be.

"Well you didn't take that into consideration for me just now did you?" She snapped. "Just... Get out of my sight." She ordered quietly and as she turned around and walked out of the kitchen, Tom saw her red puffy eyes and her tear stained face along with cheeks that were red from embarrassment. He let her pass and she soon disappeared into the bedroom where she closed the door behind her- they never closed the bedroom door so this was serious.

* * *

**4pm**  
Tom was groggy as he woke up and it took him a while to realise that he was on the sofa in the living room. After glancing at the clock, he realised that he had been lucky and he had caught almost 4 hours sleep, but he worried about what state Sam was currently in.

He focused on how he was feeling for a few moments to determine his health. He had only had a minor headache earlier which had now disappeared thanks to the ibuprofen and paracetamol and he no longer had the tight knots in his abdomen. He still felt weak all over, and his muscles ached from his face to his toes, but the good news was: he didn't feel sick.

He sat up, and made his way to the kitchen, where he opted to make Sam some dry toast in an effort to get her feeling a little better. He decided against making her a cup of tea incase her fever hadn't subsided like his, or incase it was brought up within the hour. He made her some toast, lightly browned, just the way she liked it before he made his way to the bedroom.

He knocked gently on the closed door before he entered the bedroom to find Sam, who seemed to be asleep on the bed. She was laying there in her plain black bra and black pyjama shorts. She seemed pale so Tom placed the plate on her bedside table before he felt her forehead. She felt clammy, sweaty yet cold and oddly, her usual soft as a baby's bum skin, was dry.

"Sam... Sam wake up for me... C'mon Sam, can you hear me?" Tom's voice was pleading as he gently shook her shoulder. "Sam." Tom said louder.  
"Mmm." She groaned without opening her eyes which he noticed where sunken in their sockets. Then it clicked.  
"Sam, when was the last time you had a wee?" Tom asked loudly to ensure she heard him. "Sam, answer me." Tom demanded.  
"Yester...day... Be... Before bed." She mumbled. Tom put his fingers to her neck to feel only a weak pulse and then he put the palm of his hand in between her cleavage to feel a rapid heartbeat. She was severely dehydrated.

He was barely thinking straight because he was blaming himself. 4 hours, he had left her alone for. Four long hours that she must've been vomiting (or excreting) time and time again for it to get this bad, and he had just left her in reorder to get a nap because they had argued about nothing.

"Right um... Ambulance." He concluded to himself as he picked up the home phone and put it on speaker whilst he called Fletch.  
"_Hello_."  
"Fletch it's Tom, I need you to send an ambulance to our flat now, Sam's severely dehydrated and I need her hospitalised now." Tom ordered as he pulled on a pair of jeans over his boxers.  
"_Right um hand on a minute_." Fletch said as he put his hand over the bottom of the phone, "Dixie, are you available for a shoutout?" Fletch whispered.  
"Er, yeah." She replied confusedly as he put the phone back to his ear.  
"_Tom, I'm on my way now_." Fletch said down the phone.

* * *

**Ten minutes later, 4:15pm**  
Fletch walked through the open flat door with Dixie and Iain in tow with a wheelchair and a bag filled with medical equipment. All three had face masks and gloves on because fletch knew that the couple would still be contagious. They entered the bedroom where Sam, who was still in only a bra and pyjama shorts, was vomiting into a bucket. She was only semiconscious so Tom had rolled her onto her side on the edge of the bed to make sure she didn't choke on her own vomit.

"Right Tom, what've we got?" Dixie queried as she knelt down in front of the bowl so she could see Sam's pale, clammy face.  
"We've both got the norovirus. She's had vomiting and diarrhoea since about 4 o' clock this morning and she's severely dehydrated. She hasn't passed urine since about 10pm yesterday night and she's semiconscious so she's not making a lot of sense. Rapid heartbeat but weak pulse." Tom explained as Dixie put two fingers on Sam's neck once she had finished vomiting. Tom rolled her onto her back and left Sam laying there as she fought to keep her eye lids open.

Iain stood there with Fletch, worried for his ex but angry that it was Tom who had been looking after the ill doctor, not him.  
"Iain, can you get two IV lines and two bags of saline please we need to start getting fluids into her ASAP." Dixie ordered as she took Sam's temperature with a thermometer. "Right, she's feverish at 39.8° we need to get her to hospital now." Dixie ordered. "Tom do you want to pull a hoodie on her quickly." Dixie said gently to the stressed partner who was still looking ill himself. She didn't want to have to wheel Sam into the ED in nothing but her bra and shorts because her colleagues would see her frail and thin frame.

Tom stumbled and stuttered before he grabbed Sam's dark blue hoodie from the wardrobe. He carefully pulled it on her and then zipped it up.  
"Right, there's not enough room in the ambulance for everyone so either Fletch or Tom, you need to get to the hospital by other means." Dixie stated as Iain lifted her into the wheelchair.  
"Have you got your car keys?" Fletch queried Tom.  
"Er, yeah." Tom said he quickly grabbed the keys from his bedside table and handed them to fletch.  
"Right, I'll go now and you can catch up." Fletch announced before he ran down to Tom's car because he knew that the ambulance would get there faster.

Tom went to push Sam's wheelchair but he winced in pain as his exhausted limbs couldn't manage it despite Sam having lost several pounds in the last few hours and she was very light before that anyway.  
"I'll take her." Iain said softly as he sympathised for the man. He pushed Sam's wheelchair out of the flat with Tom and Dixie in two as they headed for the lift, and then down into the ambulance where the blue lights and sirens were turned on, and they raced to hospital.

**Thanks for reading, please review x**


	4. Chapter 4

**6pm**

Sam awoke to a blinding light, it took a few moments until she realised that it was only a bedside lamp, but she quickly attempted to turn it off. It was an a attempt, but it wasn't successful, with her aching and throbbing limbs, she missed the light and knocked a plastic cup off of the side onto the floor. It was empty but it still made a noise.

It was when her boss entered her room that she realised where she was: the ED. She was in a hospital bed, in a private room, in a hospital gown with a cannula in each hand pushing a solution into her to restore the electrolyte and fluid balance in her body.

Zoe closed the door behind her and quickly stopped the cup from making anymore noise before Tom, who was in a chair besides Sam's bed, woke up.  
"How're you feeling?" Zoe asked quietly. She noticed Sam squinting and grimacing and she soon worked out that the lamp was bothering her so she turned it off.  
"Thanks." Sam croaked. "I..." She trailed off as she groaned. Her entire body was in agony as though she had just done a triathlon without any training, four times in a row.  
"Achy?" Zoe queried and Sam nodded weakly. "We would've given you pain relief but Tom said he was asleep for a few hours before he brought you in so he wasn't sure whether you had taken any more painkillers. Can you-"  
"Tom... Me and Tom... We were arguing. It was serious, we-" Sam stuttered.  
"Sam calm down, Tom was worried sick when he brought you in so I think he's forgotten about the argument. Speaking of sick, nice shot." Zoe smirked.  
"What?" Sam asked confusedly and innocently.

"When you were brought in, you looked like you were going to be sick so we rolled you onto your side and you vomited on Fletch's scrub bottoms. He said he had to go and have a shower, to the 'get the bits of puke out from under his scrotum'." Zoe quoted as she laughed.  
"Oh god..." Sam cringed before she hung her head in her hands from embarrassment.  
"Don't worry, everyone found it funny- well except fletch." Zoe smiled. "Anyway, you just need to get some rest. Do you still feel like you've got an upset stomach?"  
"No, I'm just achy now." Sam forced a smile.

"Okay, well we're gonna have to keep you in over night because you fell unconscious and I just want to keep and eye on you while you've still got fluids going in, and we need to monitor your urine output." Zoe explained.  
"Wait, have I got a catheter in?" Sam asked sheepishly.  
"Yeah, we put it in when you were unconscious to monitor your urine output." Zoe replied.  
"Who put it in?" Sam demanded._ Please don't let it have been Fletch, Jamie, Robyn, Charlie or Tess_, she thought.  
"Um... I think her name's Julie. She's an agency nurse, she'll be gone in a few days so don't worry." Zoe smiled.  
"Okay." Sam let out a sigh of relief.  
"By the way, Tom said that you hadn't emptied your bladder since yesterday, did it not click that it was severe dehydration?" Zoe queried.  
"I can't remember to be honest. The last thing I remember was me and Tom arguing about... In fact I don't even know what we were arguing about." Sam admitted.  
"Well you were probably both just irritable from being ill." Zoe stated.  
"Mm." Sam mumbled in agreement.  
"Um, we've done a blood test to check kidney function and it doesn't seem affected at all so that's not a worry. Like I said, we're just waiting for your urine output to increase." Zoe explained as she looked by the end of the bed at Sam's catheter bag. There was a small amount of diluted urine in it so she seemed to be improving. "Right, c'mon, get some rest and I'll come and check on you in a bit okay?"  
"Okay, thanks Zoe." Sam smiled as she slowly turned to her side to get comfortable.  
"No worries." Zoe replied happily before she left the private room.

* * *

**8am, the next day.**  
Sam awoke groggily in Tom's arms, still in her hospital bed. And still in her horrible hospital gown. Both cannulas had been removed from Sam's hands an she was lying on top of Tom, face down into his chest with the thin sheet pulled over them. She could feel something uncomfortable between her legs, and then she realised that it was her catheter that had not yet been removed. She peered over the side of the bed carefully, to see that the catheter bag was empty. She hoped very much that someone had just emptied the bag because otherwise, she wasn't going to be discharged that morning.

She looked up at her sleeping partner, neither yet had spoken since their argument, in fact she couldn't remember getting in that position in the bed but she must've somehow. She stretched her slightly achy neck up and brushed her lips against his. She gave him a long, deep kiss and then left her lips lingering whilst Tom stirred. Without even opening his eyes, he smiled and kissed Sam. Eventually, they pulled apart and Sam rested her head on his chest whilst he stroked her hair which was soft yet slightly tangled.

"Sorry to interrupt," Ash began quietly as he entered the room and closed the door to block out the noise of the corridor. Sam kept her head on Tom's chest but she turned her neck so her ear was on him, and she was facing Ash. "Sam, it's up to you but either you need to take your catheter out, or I can go and get a nurse who can take it out for you." Ash said quietly because it was clear the groggy couple had only just woken up.  
"What? now?" Sam queried.  
"Yeah, your urine output has improved so you can be discharged soon." Ash stated.  
"I'll take it out." Sam said softly.  
"Okay well, the equipment trolley is there, and Tom got you these last night so you can get changed. I'll leave you two to it." He smiled after pointing to a neat pile of Sam's scrubs along with a pack of cheap underwear from maternity. He then left the couple to rest.

"Oh you are joking me." Sam smirked once she had seen the underwear.  
"Well it's either that, or you go commando for the journey home." Tom smirked. Sam huffed before she turned over and the couple changed position so that they were both sitting up, but Sam was sitting between Tom's legs and she was leaning back against his chest.

"Can you stay there so I can take my catheter out please?" Sam asked quietly.  
"Yeah sure." Tom smiled as he got himself in a firm position where he was supporting Sam, and keeping her sitting up so she would be able to take the thin tube out. "Here you go." Tom whispered as he handed Sam the square absorbent pad that she then put underneath her incase there was a leak, which there usually was during a catheter removal. Sam carefully raised her legs so that they were propped up by her feet, before she pulled the gown back slightly so she could see what she was doing. Tom handed her the small syringe which she used to deflate the ball keeping the tube in place. Sam handed the water filled syringe back to Tom which he put back on the trolley.

"You alright?" Tom queried softly when it had been a few moments but she hadn't done anything.  
"Yeah I just... I don't know how uncomfortable this is going to be." Sam admitted.  
"Right, you're going to pull it out, on the count of three." Tom ordered. "One, two, three." He said and it gave Sam the push she needed to pull the thin tube out. She coiled the tube up and then handed it to Tom who put it on the equipment trolley. She pulled the pad out from underneath her and put that in the small, yellow rubbish bag on the trolley. "All sorted." Tom smiled as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms to comfort her. "Listen... About the argument, and me not letting you in the bathroom when you were desperate-" Tom began solemnly.  
"Uh uh. Remember what we said yesterday morning?" Sam queried and Tom shook his head in confusion. "What ever happened yesterday, is never to be repeated again." Sam stated.

"So... You forgive me?" Tom queried.  
"I suppose so." She sighed sarcastically. "But you'll have to make it up to me." She said suggestively. "But, not for a week or two." She added quickly. "Every part of me is aching."

* * *

**8:30am**  
Sam had gotten changed into the horrible maternity underwear -that were designed to be thrown away after one use for new mothers-, and her scrubs. She had on, the spare pair of trainers from her locker as well as her grey NHS hoodie. She and Tom were cuddling in the bed when Fletch entered with a tray from the staff room.

"Not that you deserve this after puking on me yesterday," Fletch joked to Sam, "but here's some very lightly buttered toast, and orange juice." He announced as he placed the tray at the end of the bed and then held the two plates ready for the couple. Sam and Tom moved a little so that they were sitting up besides each other before they took the plate.  
"I'm not really-" Sam began.  
"Don't say you're not hungry because I'm on strict orders by Zoe, that you have to eat at least one slice each." Fletch stated.  
"Fletch, have you ever had the norovirus?" Sam queried. She was slightly annoyed at his lack of sympathy for her whilst she still had a sensitive stomach.  
"No." Fletch stated.  
"Then each the toast and tell Zoe _I_ ate it." Sam ordered as she shoved the plate back into the nurses hands, before she snuggled up into Tom's chest again.  
"Sorry mate, but I'd rather not. Not yet." Tom admitted as he handed the plate to fletch before he wrapped his arms around Sam to comfort her whilst they both still felt so weak and lethargic.

"Good job I skipped breakfast then eh?" Fletch joked as he put the plates on the tray, took one slice and took a large bite out of it. Sam smiled because he was saving the lecture from Zoe about beginning to eat again.

"Can we go home now? I just wanna sleep in my own bed with plenty of room instead of this cramped thing. And I need my hot water bottle for my stomach because it's really crampy." Sam pleaded.  
"Fletch, go and get her discharged, please." Tom asked.  
"I'll go and get Zoe." Fletch said before he put the rest of the slice of toast in his mouth at once, and then he put the remaining three slices in the clinical waste bin so that Zoe didn't have a go at them.

Slowly, Sam and Tom got out of bed so that they were ready to go. Less than a minute later, Zoe entered the room and as as the two empty plates.  
"How thick do you think I am?" Zoe moaned. "First of all, I know you wouldn't have eaten all of that toast after being that ill, and secondly, I know Sam hasn't eaten anything, because she never eats the crusts." Zoe stated. "You always leaves the plate in the staff room in the mornings." She added as Fletch joined her besides their bed.

"Zoe, I'm sorry but... I really don't think I can stomach anything for a while." Sam stated.  
"Yeah but I'd rather you said that than lied to me." Zoe stated as she signed the forms in Sam's files.  
"Sorry." Sam and Tom both mumbled like naughty school kids.  
"Right, you're discharged, but you need to eat and drink something today and Sam, you especially need to keep drinking okay?" Zoe explained.  
"Will do." Sam lied. She had no intention of drinking any more than she needed to because she felt fine one, in fact she had had so much saline infused into her, that she was bloated from it.  
"Yeah right." Zoe said sarcastically. "Right c'mon you two, out of my hospital and I want to see you back here, bright and early on Monday morning." Zoe stated before she left the room. It was only Thursday morning, so Sam and Tom had the rest of the day, along with Friday, Saturday and Sunday to rest and recover.

* * *

**3pm**  
Sam and Tom had just gotten comfortable in their double bed and they had everything on their bedside tables that they might need to save them from getting up including: painkillers, bottles of water, a pack of plain digestive biscuits, their phones, a good book each and their shared ipad. Sam had her hot water bottle to soothe the muscular cramps in her stomach caused by projectile vomiting whilst Tom had Sam's lavender neck wrap that had been heated up in the microwave to soothe his aching neck. They were both tucked under the thick duvet because unlike the day before, they didn't have a fever, and it was freezing cold whilst they waited for the heating to kick in.  
"Don't forget we need a new bin for the bedroom." Sam joked half heartedly as she remembered her accident in it.  
"Mm. We also need to sleep for hours and hours." Tom whispered sleepily.  
"I swear lavender makes you drowsy." Sam stated. "When you gave me the back massage with lavender oil a few weeks ago, you pretty much fell asleep on top of me. And since I got that washing detergent that's lavender scented, you always volunteer to do the washing, and end up falling asleep when you're sorting out whites, delicates and colours." Sam explained. She looked at Tom for his reply, but, much to her amusement, he was fast asleep.

Now that he was asleep, she was able to entwine her legs with his so that she could warm her icy feet up like she tried every night, but when he was awake, he'd only squeal and then play 'footsie' as he called it, to get her 'ice blocks' off of him. She lay there, feeling the warmth radiating onto her stomach from the hot water bottle which was like heaven as he soothed her aches. She gave Tom a peck on the cheek as a goodnight kiss, before she settled down for the night. She looked forward to the lie in the next morning, despite the fact that it was still only early afternoon, and that lovely thought soon made her slip into a deep slumber.

**Thanks for reading, this is the final (and longest!) chapter of this story so please give me a final review x**


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